Saving Private Ryan is Steven Spielberg's masterful representation of the visceral and tragic realities of warfare. Built around the Normandy Invasion of World War II, the story follows Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) and his squad of eight men through the hellish landings on Omaha Beach and then onto a mission to save a Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) who's three brothers have all been killed in the war. The film is an intensely gut-wrenching exposure to real war and the courage of the men who must suffer through the terrible experience.